126 learners from Upper Uma, Lubuagan get educational support from International educators

Lubuagan, Kalinga – A total of 126 students from Upper Uma, Lubuagan, Kalinga received educational support through an outreach program at the Uma Elementary School on August 5, 2025, through former and current international educators.

Said educational support is aimed at uplifting learning conditions and promoting academic growth in remote communities.

After posting a fundraising appeal on her Facebook account, Air Woman First Class Joan D. Saga-oc, an author of globally acclaimed iKalinga books, an alumna of Uma Elementary School and a native of Upper Uma, said that some generous local and global ‘friends,’ particularly from Canada, the US, Israel, Australia, Ireland, and South Korea, responded and donated for the learners in Upper Uma.

The initiative, Sagaoc said, was purposed to provide Upper Uma learners with educational materials for their schooling.

Outreach at Uma Elementary School

The Barangay of Upper Uma comprises three sitios: Magmag-an, Bangtitan, and Duya-as, and is one of the most remote areas of Lubuagan town, separately located and accessible only via footpaths and across rough terrains.

Uma Elementary School has 126 students and 8 teachers, including the principal, one for each grade, from Kindergarten to Grade 6.

Said school sits in the heart of Upper Uma, surrounded by rice terraces where students trek 3km across a mountain on a slippery, often dangerous footpath, no matter the weather.

How the outreach program came about

In 2024, Saga-oc, along with a small group of residents of sitio Magmag-an, launched a pilot project supplying school materials to 52 children in the sitio. In 2025, they expanded the effort to provide all 126 children with rain gear, beanies, and hygiene packs after a three-month campaign.

In an interview with GURU Press Cordillera, the uniformed writer said that the outreach began only as a promise to donate books, which grew into a global effort supported by educators, readers, locals, and even her siblings themselves.

“….it’s just an outreach lang. When I visited the school during their closing ceremony, I said that I will be coming back to donate copies of the books, and I thought, is that all? I should do something to bring gifts to the kids, and that's how it started. I reached those readers around the world and they gladly helped,” she relayed.

Saga-oc further recounted that many of the international donors were educators who understood the challenges faced by Kalinga learners and shared her hope that some would become storytellers. Some were friends, others she met at book festivals, and some were strangers— all connected by bayanihan.

“…many of them are educators or former educators, they understood very well the real situation experienced by our Kalinga learners without having to be told much. They understand Bayanihan better than some of our own citizens. And they share the hope and ambition of mine that some of them will, in time, become great narrators and authors. I know some personally, some I met during Book festivals, and I don't know some. Friends connecting friends,” she recounted.

Through this initiative, Saga-oc and her dedicated team seek to work with DepEd to refit the Magmag-an classroom and secure a teacher, so local children no longer have to endure the long, difficult walk to school each day.

“Our original and general aim is to have DepEd get the classroom in Magmag-an refitted and have a teacher assigned so that the kids can stop having to walk such a long, difficult route to school each day,” she concluded.